View allAll Photos Tagged Biometrics,
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
Well this is it
Biometric Erotic Android
it was made by Rajii and he just made my day with this. Now she is just scanning Emily's pussy to confirm identity to her home and her belongings, is the ultimate in pleasure amd security!
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
Sen. Charles Schumer, (D-N.Y) makes opening remarks during a hearing attended by a panel of Department of Homeland Security senior officials John Wagner, deputy assistant commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Field Operations; Anh Duong,
director of Border and Maritime Division of Homeland Security's Advanced Research Projects Agency; Craig Healy, assistant director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's National Security Investigations Division; and Rebecca Gambler, director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, as they deliver testimony on the unimplemented biometric exit tracking system before the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2016. (CBP Photo by Glenn Fawcett)
Was not sure if I wanted to upload this. The inspiration comes from here. My series is as scary on first sight (I did all variations with my two sons and me) but this one I think is worth publishing as it shows the resemblance of Prozac05 with me. Believe me when I say that I just took our two biometric shots (for a new passport) and scaled them to the same head hight. Afterwards I just masked on half of my face out with a soft transition of 40 px. That is all. Our mouthes actually really fit. So do our eyecolors. My skin however...
NO smiling on biometric passport pictures...
All images available for licensing via me. I offer commercial and editorial pet photography on a commissioned basis. And with a pet picture database with hundreds of hand-picked images of dogs, cats, as well as horses, I might already have what you are looking for. All pictures here can be licensed.
For licensing and commission requests: info{at}elkevogelsang.com -
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20220411_Kiboyo_SmilingBiometricKiboyo
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
NEC's SmartScan is different. It starts with a modern user interface and intuitive screen utilizing Microsoft Windows 10 with modern touch, pinch-and-zoom and swipe features now common on all devices. Then it is housed in a visually pleasing, height adjustable, ergonomically designed kiosk with larger foot pedals for improved fingerprint and palmprint capture. #biometrics Learn more today - goo.gl/vDvaWH
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
Blue-and-white Flycatcher (Cyanoptila cyanomelana)
Passeriforme Order – Muscicapidae Family
The blue-and-white flycatcher (Cyanoptila cyanomelana) is a migratory songbird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. The species is also known as the Japanese flycatcher. It breeds in Japan, Korea, and in parts of north eastern China and far eastern Russia. It winters in South East Asia, especially in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Sumatra and Borneo. This species has been recorded as a vagrant from the Sinharaja Rainforest in Sri Lanka in 2014.
BIOMETRICS
Length: 16-17 cm; Weight: 25 g
DESCRIPTION
Blue-and-white Flycatcher is very common in Korea where it is summer visitor.
Adult male has most of upperparts cobalt-blue, including upperwing-coverts, flight feather edges and tail. The primaries are black. Secondary feathers show black inner webs. The outer tail feathers are white at the base, only visible in flight.
On the underparts, chin, throat, breast and flanks are black, whereas belly and vent are white.
On the head, crown and nape are shiny cobalt-blue. The lower part of the forehead and face are black.
The bill is black. Eyes are dark brown. Legs and feet are dusky.
Female is different. She has grey-brown upperparts, including head and face. Wings are blackish, with broad rufous-brown edges on tertials. Uppertail coverts and tail are rufous-brown with darker outer rectrices.
On the underparts, chin and throat are grey to grey-brown, with distinct creamy throat patch. Breast and flanks are whitish, washed olive-grey. Belly and vent are whitish.
The bare parts are as in male, and she has an indistinct pale eye-ring.
Juvenile resembles female, but young male has bluish uppertail-coverts, tail and edges of flight feathers.
The first-year is almost similar to adult, with buff tips on secondary wing-coverts and inner flight feathers.
Two subspecies
- C.c. cyanomelana, has black head, throat and breast.
- C.c. cumatilis, shows turquoise or azure-blue plumage instead of cobalt-blue in nominate. Face is mostly deep greenish-blue. Female is darker than nominate race.
VOICE
Blue-and-white Flycatcher sings mainly at dawn and dusk. Its song is rich, fluted and melodious “hi-hwi-pipipi, tsi tsi tsi”.
Calls are harsh “tchk-tchk”, or softer, with “tic” or “tac” sounds.
This species is usually silent in winter.
HABITAT
Blue-and-white Flycatcher lives in wooded areas in lowlands and submontane forests such as taiga, wooded slopes and gullies at up to 1200 metres of elevation. It can be also found in scrub, bushes and plantations.
During migration or on wintering areas, it can be found in coastal woodlands, parks and gardens. It may winter at high altitudes in Borneo, up to 2000 metres.
RANGE
Blue-and white Flycatcher breeds in Japan, Korea, parts of China and Russia. It winters in South East Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Sumatra and Borneo).
BEHAVIOUR
Blue-and-white Flycatcher often adopts upright stance with frequent slow up and down tail movements and flicking wings. These movements are used in several situations, such as visual contact between mates, aggressive display behaviour, or disturbances of preys for easier caught.
It hunts from a perch, swooping down to the ground for feeding, and coming back to another perch. This small bird feeds on small invertebrates, larvae and some berries.
It is usually seen alone or in pairs, and it is very active. It gleans insects in the lower branches or in under storey, but it usually forages at mid and upper levels of canopy. It also performs sallies for flying insects. It is mainly arboreal.
Blue-and-white Flycatcher is territorial during breeding season. Some displays occur, showing the male offering food to female during courtship. This behaviour maintains the pair-bonds.
Blue-and-white Flycatcher is migratory, and moves south to wintering areas.
FLIGHT
Blue-and-white Flycatcher catches insects in flight or by sallies.
REPRODUCTION
Breeding season occurs between May and early August.
Blue-and-white Flycatcher often builds its nest near the ground, sheltered by vegetation or branches. The nest may be situated in crevice in cliff, among the roots of a tree, or under the overhanging bank of a stream.
The structure is cup-shaped, and made with moss, some plant fibres and parts of lichens.
Female lays 4 to 6 pale brown eggs with some markings. Incubation lasts about two weeks, by female. Both parents rear the chicks and take turns for catching preys.
The Blue-and-white Flycatcher’s nest is sometimes parasitized by Cuculus fugax.
DIET
Blue-and-white Flycatcher feeds mainly on insects and larvae, such as beetles, moths and bees. It also consumes some berries, including unripe green berries.
PROTECTION / THREATS / STATUS
Blue-and-white Flycatcher is common or locally common in most parts of the range. It is uncommon in China.
This species is not threatened at this moment.
[Credit: www.oiseaux-birds.com/]
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
When using this photo, please attribute: * Photo by NEC Corporation of America with Creative Commons license.
NEC is the world leader in biometrics fingerprint and facial matching technology, with recognition from leading independent organizations such as U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NEC’s extensive portfolio solutions range from mobile fingerprint identification, facial recognition to integrated workflow management solutions that provide extensive database matching capabilities across multiple organizations. Learn how some of the nation’s leading agencies trust NEC with their public safety solutions after attending the AFIS Internet Conference.
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
An essential edition to any bachelor pad, this hi-tech fingerprint
recognition lock is movie technology made real. Yes, it really works.
For years, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act has been a headache for any tech company working with facial recognition. It’s a simple law, requiring a person’s explicit consent before a company can make a biometric scan of their body. In the eight years since the law was...
www.3faf.com/en/2016/05/27/someones-trying-to-gut-america...
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations, Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner John Wagner testified before the U.S. House of Representatives on the topic “About Face: Examining the Department of Homeland Security’s Use of Facial Recognition and Other Biometric Technologies, Part II”. Other witnesses are Mr. Peter Mina, Deputy Officer for Programs and Compliance, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Dr. Charles Romine, Director of the Information Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology. Chairman Jackson Lee speaks to the witnesses.
Photographer: Donna Burton
current ATMs will see a new design adopting a fingerprint biometric sensor by pressing yr thumb onto the sensor.....www.scientificamerican.com
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
Users will register by choosing a Space Guard Name then undergoing a simulated biometric scan.
Ideum is working with Lowell Observatory on an upcoming exhibition all about asteroid science. The entire exhibition is a fictional school, Space Guard Academy, where cadets learn all about asteroids and "rank up" as they participate in different interactive learning modules.
Ideum is developing 5 connected interactives as well as a student registration station and a system to track student scores and ranks. Look for more information and pictures in the near future. To learn more about Ideum's Creative Services, visit our website.
New and old design of Indonesian passport. New one is computerized and has biometric feature (sans RFID chip). Photo courtesy of Ganbate Panda
[order] Charadriiformes | [family] Recurvirostridae | [latin] Himantopus himantopus | [UK] Pied Stilt | [FR] Echasse blanche | [DE] Stelzenläufer | [ES] Ciguenuela común | [IT] Cavaliere d'Italia | [NL] Steltkluut
Measurements
spanwidth min.: 64 cm
spanwidth max.: 70 cm
size min.: 33 cm
size max.: 36 cm
Breeding
incubation min.: 22 days
incubation max.: 25 days
fledging min.: 28 days
fledging max.: 32 days
broods 1
eggs min.: 3
eggs max.: 5
BIOMETRICS:
Length: 35-40 cm
Weight: 165-205 g
PHYSICAL DESCRPTION:
Black-winged Stilt (Pied Stilt)
is a black and white shorebird, perched on very long and fine pink legs, giving the bird an elegant gait.
The adult male in breeding plumage has black and white plumage with all-black wings and upper back with greenish iridescence.
Underparts are white, sometimes with pale pinkish wash on the breast.
Head shows white face and forehead, and black top of the crown. Eyes are red. The long, thin bill is black and straight. Very long legs and feet are reddish-pink.
The female in breeding plumage is almost similar but more brownish on the upperparts with sometimes greyish wash on nape and rear neck.
In winter plumage, both are similar to the breeding female but duller, with variable grey wash on head and rear neck.
The juvenile is paler than adult, with washed grey-brown crown and rear neck. The brownish upperparts show narrow pale buff fringes, and legs are duller.
VOICE:
The Black-winged Stilt’s calls are a sharp “kek” and a barking “ke-yak”. Alarm call is a monotonous, high-pitched “kik-kik-kik-kik-kik-kik”.
They are noisy on their breeding areas.
HABITAT:
The Black-winged Stilt lives mainly in freshwater and saltwater marshes and mudflats, shallow lakes, coastal lagoons, flooded fields and rice fields.
RANGE:
The Black-winged Stilt has wide range. We can find it in Australia, Central and South America, Africa, Asia, parts of North America, Eurasia, Hawaii and Philippines.
BEHAVIOUR:
The Black-winged Stilt feeds in shallow water, wading and catching preys on or near the surface. But sometimes, it plunges the head under the surface to capture some aquatic invertebrate. It picks up its food from sand or water.
Its very long legs allow it to walk in deeper water than other waders. This bird rarely swims for food. The Black-winged Stilt is an active forager, and it can employ several methods to catch prey.
This species is well adapted to nocturnal vision, which allows them to feed on windy, moonless nights. Stilts walk quickly, with long strides, wading into water.
The Black-winged Stilt is a migratory bird, moving to the ocean coasts in winter. European birds winter in sub-Saharan Africa. They are often seen in flocks of 10 to 20 birds, and also in mixed flocks with other species of shorebirds.
The Black-winged Stilt nests in small colonies of 2 to 50 pairs, and mated pairs defend vigorously their nest site and territory. They may nest in mixed groups with avocets.
They are gregarious and may feed in large flocks of several thousands birds. When alarmed, the birds often bob their head.
FLIGHT:
The Black-winged Stilt has rapid direct flight, with steady wing-beats. Legs are projected behind the tail of up to 20 cm, and neck is slightly held.
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
Over the past year, with the generous support of Innovation Norway, UN Women has been assessing the potential of leveraging blockchain technologies to address challenges faced by women and girls in humanitarian settings.
As part of this work, UN Women, in partnership with the UN Office of Information and Communications Technology (UN OICT) hosts a four-day Simulation Lab from January 29 to February 1, 2018 at the UN Women New York Headquarters.
This Lab enables UN Women to explore, in collaboration with the private sector, cutting-edge solutions that hold potential for closing gender gaps in humanitarian action.
Based on the results of the Lab, four to five solution providers will be invited to submit a request for proposal (RFP). UN Women intends to pilot two to four solutions in the eld in collaboration with its UN and private sector partners and with the support of Innovation Norway, with the intention to thereafter upscale the most successful solutions as part of UN Women’s Global Flagship Programmes for Disaster Risk Reduction (Gender Inequality of Risk) and Crisis Response and Recovery (LEAP-Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection).
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
Over the past year, with the generous support of Innovation Norway, UN Women has been assessing the potential of leveraging blockchain technologies to address challenges faced by women and girls in humanitarian settings.
As part of this work, UN Women, in partnership with the UN Office of Information and Communications Technology (UN OICT) hosts a four-day Simulation Lab from January 29 to February 1, 2018 at the UN Women New York Headquarters.
This Lab enables UN Women to explore, in collaboration with the private sector, cutting-edge solutions that hold potential for closing gender gaps in humanitarian action.
Based on the results of the Lab, four to five solution providers will be invited to submit a request for proposal (RFP). UN Women intends to pilot two to four solutions in the eld in collaboration with its UN and private sector partners and with the support of Innovation Norway, with the intention to thereafter upscale the most successful solutions as part of UN Women’s Global Flagship Programmes for Disaster Risk Reduction (Gender Inequality of Risk) and Crisis Response and Recovery (LEAP-Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection).
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
Blue-and-white Flycatcher (Cyanoptila cyanomelana)
Passeriforme Order – Muscicapidae Family
The blue-and-white flycatcher (Cyanoptila cyanomelana) is a migratory songbird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. The species is also known as the Japanese flycatcher. It breeds in Japan, Korea, and in parts of north eastern China and far eastern Russia. It winters in South East Asia, especially in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Sumatra and Borneo. This species has been recorded as a vagrant from the Sinharaja Rainforest in Sri Lanka in 2014.
BIOMETRICS
Length: 16-17 cm; Weight: 25 g
DESCRIPTION
Blue-and-white Flycatcher is very common in Korea where it is summer visitor.
Adult male has most of upperparts cobalt-blue, including upperwing-coverts, flight feather edges and tail. The primaries are black. Secondary feathers show black inner webs. The outer tail feathers are white at the base, only visible in flight.
On the underparts, chin, throat, breast and flanks are black, whereas belly and vent are white.
On the head, crown and nape are shiny cobalt-blue. The lower part of the forehead and face are black.
The bill is black. Eyes are dark brown. Legs and feet are dusky.
Female is different. She has grey-brown upperparts, including head and face. Wings are blackish, with broad rufous-brown edges on tertials. Uppertail coverts and tail are rufous-brown with darker outer rectrices.
On the underparts, chin and throat are grey to grey-brown, with distinct creamy throat patch. Breast and flanks are whitish, washed olive-grey. Belly and vent are whitish.
The bare parts are as in male, and she has an indistinct pale eye-ring.
Juvenile resembles female, but young male has bluish uppertail-coverts, tail and edges of flight feathers.
The first-year is almost similar to adult, with buff tips on secondary wing-coverts and inner flight feathers.
Two subspecies
- C.c. cyanomelana, has black head, throat and breast.
- C.c. cumatilis, shows turquoise or azure-blue plumage instead of cobalt-blue in nominate. Face is mostly deep greenish-blue. Female is darker than nominate race.
VOICE
Blue-and-white Flycatcher sings mainly at dawn and dusk. Its song is rich, fluted and melodious “hi-hwi-pipipi, tsi tsi tsi”.
Calls are harsh “tchk-tchk”, or softer, with “tic” or “tac” sounds.
This species is usually silent in winter.
HABITAT
Blue-and-white Flycatcher lives in wooded areas in lowlands and submontane forests such as taiga, wooded slopes and gullies at up to 1200 metres of elevation. It can be also found in scrub, bushes and plantations.
During migration or on wintering areas, it can be found in coastal woodlands, parks and gardens. It may winter at high altitudes in Borneo, up to 2000 metres.
RANGE
Blue-and white Flycatcher breeds in Japan, Korea, parts of China and Russia. It winters in South East Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Sumatra and Borneo).
BEHAVIOUR
Blue-and-white Flycatcher often adopts upright stance with frequent slow up and down tail movements and flicking wings. These movements are used in several situations, such as visual contact between mates, aggressive display behaviour, or disturbances of preys for easier caught.
It hunts from a perch, swooping down to the ground for feeding, and coming back to another perch. This small bird feeds on small invertebrates, larvae and some berries.
It is usually seen alone or in pairs, and it is very active. It gleans insects in the lower branches or in under storey, but it usually forages at mid and upper levels of canopy. It also performs sallies for flying insects. It is mainly arboreal.
Blue-and-white Flycatcher is territorial during breeding season. Some displays occur, showing the male offering food to female during courtship. This behaviour maintains the pair-bonds.
Blue-and-white Flycatcher is migratory, and moves south to wintering areas.
FLIGHT
Blue-and-white Flycatcher catches insects in flight or by sallies.
REPRODUCTION
Breeding season occurs between May and early August.
Blue-and-white Flycatcher often builds its nest near the ground, sheltered by vegetation or branches. The nest may be situated in crevice in cliff, among the roots of a tree, or under the overhanging bank of a stream.
The structure is cup-shaped, and made with moss, some plant fibres and parts of lichens.
Female lays 4 to 6 pale brown eggs with some markings. Incubation lasts about two weeks, by female. Both parents rear the chicks and take turns for catching preys.
The Blue-and-white Flycatcher’s nest is sometimes parasitized by Cuculus fugax.
DIET
Blue-and-white Flycatcher feeds mainly on insects and larvae, such as beetles, moths and bees. It also consumes some berries, including unripe green berries.
PROTECTION / THREATS / STATUS
Blue-and-white Flycatcher is common or locally common in most parts of the range. It is uncommon in China.
This species is not threatened at this moment.
[Credit: www.oiseaux-birds.com/]
Jeff Topping for The New York Times
A fingerprint ID scanner is used by the Border Patrol in Nogales, Ariz.
August 10, 2005
Hurdles for High-Tech Efforts to Track Who Crosses Borders
By ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 - The federal government has been pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the once-obscure science called biometrics, producing some successes but also fumbles in a campaign intended to track foreigners visiting the country and the activities of some Americans.
Hoping to block the entry of criminals and terrorists into the United States and to improve the enforcement of immigration laws, government officials have in the past several years created enormous new repositories of digitally recorded biometric data - including fingerprints and facial characteristics - that can be used to identify more than 45 million foreigners. Federal agencies have also assembled data on more than 70 million Americans in an effort to speed law-abiding travelers through checkpoints and to search for domestic terrorists.
The immigration control and antiterrorism campaign was spurred by the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent Congressional mandates to improve the nation's security. But the effort has fallen far short of its goals, provoking criticism that the government is committed to a technological solution so ambitious that it will either never work or be achieved only at an unacceptably high price.
"I am not satisfied," said Representative Dan Lungren, Republican of California, who is chairman of a House panel that helps oversee the effort. "We are stumbling toward progress. I would hope we would be sprinting."
In defending its record, the Department of Homeland Security points to arrests along the nation's borders. In the past year, thanks to a new system that allows Border Patrol agents to check quickly and comprehensively the fingerprints of every illegal immigrant detained near the border, officers have identified 437 people wanted, previously charged or convicted of homicide; 579 who had sexual assault records and more than 18,000 others with records involving robberies, drugs, kidnappings or assaults.
The State Department said new facial recognition software had also uncovered visa fraud. The software identified 5,731 applicants to the annual visa lottery program who had doctored their names or otherwise cheated. They included people who each submitted at least a dozen applications and tried to disguise themselves with different hairstyles, glasses or expressions.
But the biometric effort still has a long way to go. The State Department, for example, recently started to test so-called electronic passports that contain a small computer chip that holds a digital photograph of the owner. [The department announced on Tuesday that it would begin issuing the electronic passports in December.] But even with the chip, officials at entry points will only have a bigger photograph to compare with the person seeking entry instead of a computer-based biometric analysis that could determine with certainty whether the passport holder was the legal passport owner.
"When it's all in place, there's still no real additional security or at least it's of marginal value," Representative Christopher Cox, Republican of California, said before he stepped down as chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security to become the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In all but a few locations, another new program, US-Visit - which has cost $1 billion and could exceed $10 billion - can only record foreigners' arrivals, not their departures, meaning it is far from delivering on its promise of creating an immigration tracking system.
The high cost comes from the extensive computer networks that must be built to tie together the data and make it accessible to United States officials around the world.
"We are still just in the formative stages of this," said Rey Koslowski, a political science professor at the University at Albany and the author of a recent report that questioned whether the program's goals could ever be met. "Now may be the time to scale back the mission."
The science of biometrics relies on unique human characteristics - including fingerprints, facial dimensions or the rings and furrows in the colored tissue of the eye - that can verify a person's identity. The government programs that rely on biometrics - at least eight are under way at the Homeland Security and State Departments alone - want to remove the uncertainty involved in using a traditional passport, visa or other identification document.
The enhanced screening starts at the 207 State Department visa processing locations around the world. Since late last year, almost all applicants must be fingerprinted and submit a photograph. The prints are transmitted to Washington, where the Department of Homeland Security compares them to a database of about five million people, mostly criminals, who may be ineligible to receive a visa.
In rural Kentucky, the State Department has put another biometric tool to work. At its visa processing center there, staff members use facial recognition software to compare applicants against a database of digital images of 45 million foreigners - collected from a decade's worth of applications - to see if any had previously applied under a different identity. The screening is being tested on small numbers of applications but will be expanded to all applications starting next year.
Facial recognition systems, which look at skin texture and the facial geography like the distances between the eye sockets or the point of a nose and an eyebrow, are much less accurate than fingerprint-based systems, requiring members of the State Department to examine every reported match.
But the system has been effective, particularly as a fraud-prevention tool in the competition for 50,000 special immigration visas that the State Department offers each year.
The software also spotted the same photograph of a Cambodian child in nine applications with different names, dates of birth and sets of parents.
The screening continues when foreigners come into the country. At domestic security checkpoints, visitors with visas are again fingerprinted and photographed to verify that they are the same people who were given the travel documents. If they are from 27 so-called visa waiver nations - mostly in Europe - they are fingerprinted and photographed for the first time. The federal government uses the data to check against watch lists and to share with law enforcement officials.
Perhaps the most effective effort so far is along the Mexican border, in places like Nogales, Ariz. More than 490,000 people were caught near Nogales last year trying to enter the United States illegally.
Five years ago, the only way to conduct a comprehensive criminal check of fingerprints was to fax the prints to a central processing center, which could take hours.
By last year, all 136 Border Patrol stations were linked to the F.B.I. fingerprint system, which produces results in two minutes.
The checks turned up 113,747 criminal record hits in the last 11 months, or about 7 out of every 50 detainees, compared with 1 in 50 before the new system was installed, a Customs and Border Patrol official said.
"Before, you might have a hunch that some guy was not right, but there was nothing you could do to check further - you just did not have the time," Luke Bilow, a senior patrol agent at Nogales, said.
Among those identified were fugitives that included Francisco Martínez, a Mexican wanted for questioning last year in connection with the killing of his cousin in Florida. Mr. Martínez had fled while the investigation was under way, but turned up at a Border Patrol roadside stop in New Mexico.
The federal government also intends to use biometrics to screen Americans. The State Department has assembled a database of high-resolution digital images of passport applications - including photographs - submitted in the past decade by 70 million Americans.
In conjunction with facial recognition technology, the photos may eventually be used to detect fraudulent passport applications, one State Department official said. Law enforcement officials at the National Counterterrorism Center now have access to the photos for investigations into possible terrorist activity.
At six American airports, A.T.M.-like machines automatically read fingerprints and do eye scans of the irises of passengers enrolled in Registered Traveler, a Homeland Security Department program intended to speed the movement of "trusted travelers," who also had to undergo background checks.
The cost of the program has been modest, $20 million in the last two years. But many critics question its value. Relatively few passengers take part because they must still wait in line to pass through metal detectors and have their bags X-rayed.
At Reagan National Airport outside Washington last Monday morning, one of the busiest times of the week, not a single passenger used the Registered Traveler ID machines for an hour, while hundreds of others passed through the regular checkpoints.
"It offers no benefit to our passengers," Robert Isom, a Northwest Airlines senior vice president, told a House panel in June.
Mr. Isom suggested that officials consider abandoning the program.
Starting this week, the Homeland Security Department is testing a system that automatically tracks people as they cross land borders by issuing visas that transmit radio signals. But critics have pointed out that a person intent on circumventing the system could simply give his visa to someone else to carry across the border, because there is no biometric check.
"If we ever catch a terrorist, we will only catch an extremely dumb terrorist," said a federal official who asked not to be named because he was criticizing the program he was involved in.
Representative Lungren said it was even more disturbing that the State Department accepted as proof of identity for passport applications documents like birth certificates that could easily be forged. In such cases, biometric-based technologies could actually help a smart terrorist.
"What we may have done, in some ways, is give terrorists or criminals tamperproof, fake ID's," he said.But federal officials say patience is required as the biometrics push gets under way.
"These things are tough," said James A. Williams, director of US-Visit. "They take time."
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) asks questions of a panel of Department of Homeland Security officials John Wagner, deputy assistant commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Field Operations; Anh Duong, director of Border and Maritime Division of Homeland Security's Advanced Research Projects Agency; Craig Healy, assistant director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's National Security Investigations Division; and Rebecca Gambler,director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, as they testify about the unimplemented biometric exit tracking system before the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2016. (CBP Photo by Glenn Fawcett)
Over the past year, with the generous support of Innovation Norway, UN Women has been assessing the potential of leveraging blockchain technologies to address challenges faced by women and girls in humanitarian settings.
As part of this work, UN Women, in partnership with the UN Office of Information and Communications Technology (UN OICT) hosts a four-day Simulation Lab from January 29 to February 1, 2018 at the UN Women New York Headquarters.
This Lab enables UN Women to explore, in collaboration with the private sector, cutting-edge solutions that hold potential for closing gender gaps in humanitarian action.
Based on the results of the Lab, four to five solution providers will be invited to submit a request for proposal (RFP). UN Women intends to pilot two to four solutions in the eld in collaboration with its UN and private sector partners and with the support of Innovation Norway, with the intention to thereafter upscale the most successful solutions as part of UN Women’s Global Flagship Programmes for Disaster Risk Reduction (Gender Inequality of Risk) and Crisis Response and Recovery (LEAP-Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection).
Pictured: Simulation participants fill out evaluations and leave comments regarding the eight blockchain solutions they were presented with.
Read More: www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/2/news-event-blockch...
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
032816: Office of Field Operations, San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a biometric border entry and exit control pilot program at Otay Mesa, San Diego in an effort to identify and apprehend foreigners with expired visas who have surpassed their permitted duration.
Photographer: Donna Burton
CBP Office of Field Operations Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner John Wagner and GOAA CEO Phil Brown participate in a ceremonial ribbon cutting ceremony at Orlando International Airport. On June 21, 2018, CBP and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority announced that Orlando International Airport became the first U.S. airport to commit to processing all arriving and departing international travelers with facial recognition technology.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection photo
The full size version of this picture is here: Hold the Ctrl key or Command key when clicking the link to open it in a new window: www.flickr.com/photos/davidduane/6163839431/sizes/o/in/ph...
I heard about a dating site, www.soul2match.com, that claims their biometric software analyzes 1,000 features of the face to determine compatibility with other users. The idea is that you will be matched with people who have similar genetic makeup, based on the picture you submit to them. That means that you will be matched with somebody that looks a bit like you.
There is no profile to fill out, just one little area to mention hobbies, another area to mention things you like, select an education level, and a religion – I don’t think the information entered there is used for any searches.
So, I submitted my picture, and wandered around the small website. There isn’t a way to search for somebody in a particular region, which would mean this is a total waste of a website to anybody who is actually looking for somebody to go out with. The website is still in Beta, so, maybe the option to search in a particular location is on the way. However, I’m starting to get the feeling I just gave my e-mail address to spammers, with no chance of winning a new car or vacation.
The Wall is where the matching is done. At the top of the “Flirt Wall,” there are pictures of people. The search can be narrowed to country, sex, and age range. I selected my parameters and ten different (I think) pictures appeared at the top. I clicked the first picture, and a larger picture loaded in the middle of the page, with a little bit of information about her - age, gender, what she is looking for (Men, Women, or Both), country, education, and religion, and how well her picture matches other users. I clicked the “Make match” button, and saw that we were 2% compatible. Repeating the process for each picture to the right, I saw 1%, 10%, 19%, 3%, 45%, 3%, 54%, and 36%. I could have selected the next range of pictures, but, this seemed like a waste of time. The best matches should be right up front. And I’m almost positive these girls could be anywhere in the United States.
At this point, I can’t call this a dating site.
But, there is still foolery to be done here, so I went to the “Match” Wall, where I was able to upload pictures from my computer (one at a time), and find out what Soul2Match has to say about our compatibility. Below is a screenshot that shows the last three entrees I made.
Pictures are displayed with the last entry on top. Third from the top, you see my ex-girlfriend, who was rated at 50% compatibility for me. Other pictures I submitted of her were 60%, and 51%. I expected a much higher compatibility score since we have always gotten along very well, and, people even say that we look like brother/sister.
Second from the top is the last picture I had easily available to me… the 22 year old blonde, who was rated as 29% compatible.
And, finally, at the top is a picture I found on the internet of a topless woman who was marching in a parade to protest that it is unfair that men don’t have to wear shirts, but women do. I looked for a picture of a topless woman because I was getting the impression that women who were showing more skin were getting higher compatibility ratings. When I submit a picture, Soul2Match’s biometric processor cropped the picture from a waist-up picture to what you see. I was completely shocked when this picture gave the highest compatibility rating I’d seen of 83%. Having seen the results for this picture, I went back to look at the other pictures I had submitted to see if my “show more skin for higher ratings” hypothesis was true. Alas, I discovered that my compatibility with mostly un-clothed women is no better than my compatibility with fully clothed women… Rats… Foiled again. Looking critically at the picture, though, I realize why it rated so highly… Our mouths and lips are about the same size, our cheekbones are about the same size and prominence, we have similar wrinkles around our mouths and eyes, we both have small eyes and button noses, etc.. I discovered that what I did when I looked for this picture was especially telling. I had looked for a picture of a woman at flickr.com that I thought was beautiful, and this is what I landed on after about one minute. Let this be a lesson to women with a few wrinkles that they are still beautiful!
On to other general findings about the ratings from Soul2Match: Keep in mind that there is no science in my scheme. I’m just a guy with beer and a blog.
Since Soul2Match says compatibility is based on similarities in facial features, I figured a girl who looks like me would rank highly. So, I put two pictures of my sister in there. Granted, her pictures are about 25 years old (I was too lazy to connect my external hard drive to get to the recent pictures), but, I suspected there should be enough similarity to get a high ranking. The compatibility rating for my sister is 28.5%, and the average for all of the ratings is 22%.
For the 22% average, I only used 49 of the samples, since the one I used to check compatibility with myself shouldn’t count. I’m only 99% compatible with myself, by the way.
21 of the women in the list of women that I checked for compatibility with have done some kind of modeling. I’m not even going to check the average compatibility score. Actually, I’m afraid to look… could it be that I am not compatible with any models?!?! Well… I have to know. I changed my mind, and added it up. I am apparently compatible with 21% of the models. That is very encouraging, especially since the average age of the models was around 22 years old.
Here is more proof that Soul2Match isn’t necessarily a dating site. They are predicting how well people would get along. One of the pictures I submitted was of a young girl, about 12 years old, I think. Our compatibility rating is 28%.
Maybe I should do this test again, using more people I know well. Or, then again, maybe I’ve wasted enough time. It was only mildly amusing. I'll stick with OkCupid.